From the 2012 News Archive

Ingrid Lofgren '10 Named 2012 Skadden Fellow

Alumna Ingrid Lofgren '10 has been selected by the Skadden Fellowship Foundation as a 2012 Skadden Fellow. She joins a distinguished class of 27 other fellows, representing outstanding law schools from across the country.

Ms. Lofgren will work with the Homeless Persons Representation Project (HPRP) in Baltimore for the next two years, heading up their new Homeless Youth Law Project. In an effort to combat the increase of homeless youths in Baltimore, the project will offer comprehensive legal services in one place, including housing, education, public benefits, and family law issues.

"There is a pressing need for targeted legal assistance to enforce the rights of youth experiencing homelessness, and to help them stabilize their lives," said Antonia Fasanelli, executive director of HPRP. "The project is a wonderful complement to the excellent systemic work being done by the Public Justice Center on behalf of homeless youth."

"If a young person has to go to different places for legal help, that imposes a lot more barriers," said Lofgren. "Going to one lawyer who can craft a legal strategy that takes into account all the issues the youth is facing and fits them together will be much more effective."

The Skadden Fellowship Foundation, described as "a legal Peace Corps" by The Los Angeles Times, was established in 1988 to commemorate the firm's 40th anniversary, in recognition of the dire need for greater funding for graduating law students who wish to devote their professional lives to providing legal services to the unrepresented and underrepresented. The Foundation gives Fellows the freedom to pursue public interest work, providing each Fellow with a salary and fringe benefits for the duration of the fellowship.

Currently a law clerk for Judge Andre M. Davis on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Ms. Lofgren completed a joint law and social work degree at Maryland in 2010. Her summers were spent clerking at Maryland Legal Aid's Statewide Advocacy Support Unit and as HPRP's first Linda Kennedy Advocacy Fellow - a legislative fellowship offered to second- and third-year law students. After graduating, she clerked for The Honorable Susan K. Gauvey, U.S. Magistrate Judge in Baltimore.

"This project brings social work, family issues and the law together," Lofgren said. "I couldn't be happier to have this opportunity."

Ms. Lofgren joins fellow graduates Susan Waysdorf '91, Lucienne Parsley '02 and Dorcas Gilmore '07 as Skadden Fellows. Ms. Waysdorf was selected for her project with the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, D.C. that provided basic legal services to HIV-infected poor persons. Ms. Parsley earned a Fellowship with her project created with the assistance of the Maryland Disability Law Center, providing representation to low-income persons with disabilities, ensuring they are afforded equal rights and opportunities in public and subsidized programs. Ms. Gilmore was recognized for her project with the Community Law Center that identified and mentored youth entrepreneurs in the Baltimore City neighborhoods of Greenmount and Southwest Baltimore.